Fitness Franchisor F45 Training Eyes $1.53B Valuation In IPO

F45 Training Holdings Inc., a fitness franchisor with more than 1,500 studios around the world and celebrity investors including Mark Wahlberg and Earvin “Magic” Johnson, has set the terms for its initial public offering (IPO) at almost 19 million shares priced between $15 and $17 each.

The company, which will trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol FXLV, would be valued at $1.53 billion at the upper end of that range.

Wahlberg and FOD Capital LLC snagged a minority stake in F45 Training Holdings in March 2019. Johnson, David Beckham and Cindy Crawford also have ties to the company, which offers 45-minute fitness programs both in-studio and at-home.

That hybrid model could serve the fitness industry quite well as some people are more comfortable than others heading back to the gym after more than a year away because of shutdowns and mask-wearing requirements at various health club chains and franchises across the U.S. and around the world.

The COVID-19 pandemic has inspired more gyms and fitness centers to offer digital classes and content, but some had ventured into virtual offerings prior to the pandemic.

Ryon Packer, chief product officer at fitness industry-focused payment and club membership management software provider ABC Financial, told PYMNTS in an interview last year he believes that clubs’ social environments will hold continued appeal to consumers, giving physical offerings staying power.

“There’s [already] been a move toward omni-fitness or a hybrid type of approach that can combine what you want to do in a health club with what you do outside of a health club,” he said. “The pandemic has certainly pushed and accelerated that move substantially.”

CEO Fritz Lanman of ClassPass, a platform for online and in-person fitness classes, told Karen Webster in August 2020 that digital offerings have partly filled a hole for consumers unable to get to their gyms, but that home workouts don’t fully replicate the in-studio experience.